Some people think John Lennon said “We’re bigger than Jesus” as a joke, but at least in terms of his own sense of self, he really did believe it to be true.
It was something he channelled not just through his physical looks, although he did become remarkably reminiscent of a certain holy spirit, but even through his music and overall outlook on life. Above all else, he was the god, and everyone else was just his disciples.
Of course, while in certain lights, there is a valid case to be had for why this was salient, Lennon lived in the real world just like the rest of us. At the end of the day, he was made up of the same flesh and blood and bones as everyone else, and he was no greater than any other man, despite what he led himself to believe. As we all know well by now, this godly complex caused more than its fair share of issues in The Beatles.
The fact that Lennon dominated the band hardly made him the most popular within their inner dynamics, particularly in the latter years. They talk about rock stars having diva demands these days, but in many ways, Lennon was the early leader of that pack, ruling with an iron fist over everything he wanted. It was no wonder that the group ended up fracturing so seismically, given that the others, excluding Paul McCartney, could barely get a look in.
To this end, while there were many decisions that he disputed within the hallowed halls of the Fab Four’s sonic reign, and despite the hundreds of songs that he elbowed his way to the heart of, there was one tune that he thought he should have sung, and that he could never quite let go of. That was ‘Oh! Darling’, taken from Abbey Road, that was McCartney’s musical baby fairly and squarely, but that Lennon thought he had every right to swipe.
“‘Oh! Darling’ was a great one of Paul’s that he didn’t sing too well. I always thought that I could’ve done it better – it was more my style than his,” he once said. “He wrote it, so what the hell, he’s going to sing it. If he’d had any sense, he should have let me sing it.”
Even though The Beatles were among the best to ever do it, therein represented their biggest flaw: that they ultimately became too big for one another, and would fight to the bitter end to shove their supposed mate out of the way.
Whatever happened to the sentiment of “I get by with a little help from my friends?”. Towards the end of the band’s tenure, those spirits had very much been left by the wayside, and instead, pretences of higher callings and godly orders took hold with some decidedly unholy repercussions.
Let’s just call a spade a spade – Lennon was no Jesus, and in reality, was just a bit of an arsehole attempting to use his peace mantra as a veneer. Rather than letting anyone else have a shot at the limelight, he just wanted to hog it. That’s not exactly in the spirit of giving, is it?